Christmas Day in the Morning

As is usual, things looked much brighter in the morning. Everyone was cheerful, loving, and happy. We enjoyed the stockings first, down in the family room, by the fireplace. Even the puppies and kitties got a special stocking treat.

Then we went upstairs to the Christmas tree. The kids were very happy about their gifts... especially Will! He was overjoyed to receive a hunting bow because it is exactly what he wanted. He had convinced himself he wouldn't get one because I had told them we were scaling back on Christmas this year. :) The other photos in the collage are of the kids reading their candy cane letters.

I found a fun gift for my students to make for their parents. It is a letter of appreciation rolled up to look like a paper candy cane on the tree. A surprise gift. My kids knew about the students' gifts to their parents, so their candy cane letters were not a surprise, but they still enjoyed reading them.

After the presents were over, we had breakfast and cooked a coffee cake (another tradition), then set about cooking the traditional Christmas feast that should have happened the night before.

It ended up being a magical day. I don't remember a single fight or disagreement all day.

Christmas Eve

Traditionally, on Christmas Eve we have a nice dinner. We read Luke 2 and the account of the Wise Men in Matthew. We let the kids open their Christmas pajamas present and they head to bed.

This year we ended up doing last minute shopping on Christmas Eve because the kids hadn't gotten anything for each other, and Helena hadn't gotten anything for us, either. I thought that maybe the Christmas spirit was missing because the kids didn't have any giving to look forward to, only receiving (with the exception of Will's presents to Bill and I, which he made in shop class).

What ended up happening was a train wreck. Arguments and frustration broke out in the store. No one was in the mood. We ended up at Rubio's for dinner (which was actually really yummy!) That evening, the kids wanted to rush Luke 2 and weren't interested in talking about Jesus. They just wanted to open their new pjs.

I snapped. I told them off. I was so angry! I had the WORST Christmas EVER and I told them so, in tears.

They sobered up quickly. Will apologized right away. Helena waited until she was in her room and sent a text. The curse of the next generation. I wish she could have said it to my face.

Bill and I decided to just go to bed and get up at 2 a.m. to place out the 'Santa' gifts. My kids know that they will get an extra present left out if they "believe".

The photos below were taken at 3 a.m. on Christmas morning once the presents were set out and the stocking stuffed.

Helena's Anc. Wld. Hist. project

The teacher for Ancient World History at the high school set a final project to create something that has to do with anything learned that semester and bring it to class. Talk about vague! Helena has a hard time choosing and executing when instructions are that vague. So she put it off until the last possible moment. That is where I come in.

I suggested she make an ancient Roman vase. I have clay, glazes, and a kiln. And just enough know how to get started. So, we went to my classroom one weekend and built! Actually, the whole family came. Will 'snow boarded' down the steep hills in the back playground while Bill recorded him. Helena and I worked in the classroom. The picture above is of Helena's vase. The picture below is mine. I decided it would be best to build two, just in case one of them exploded in the kiln. A plan B. And, actually, my plan B is the one that bit the dust! Someone knocked it over on Monday and broke off the right handle. So...

I built a Plan C! In the end, we fired all three, glazed them, and fired them a final time. Helena's original piece was not attached (meaning that it was made of 3 parts that were supposed to fuse together with glaze during firing). During the final firing, the pieces slipped apart and it didn't turn out. She turned it in anyway, along with my two pieces, which she had helped glaze.

Do I think it is cheating that she turned in a pot that I built? No. She turned in hers as well and told the teacher she had help from a parent. I have seen some of the 'student projects' turned in, and believe me, this one is really low end! There was a Hanging Gardens of Babylon built to scale. There was a tableau of Barbies and Kens in full Egyptian costume, complete with an Osiris headdress on one of the Kens. Those Barbie clothes looked professionally done in every way! And that miniature papier mache?! Oi!

Mourning Christmas Past

I know that I am overly tired.

I didn't get to bed until 3 am.

I had another big fight with my 16 year old daughter yesterday.

In fact, there has been a lot of contention in the house for a while, now.  It seems that Helena and Will cannot be in the same room with each other without doing or saying something rude and/or spiteful.  It also didn't help that the kids are both struggling to maintain a few of their grades.  That puts me on the offensive and leaves my relationship with them strained.

Whenever I turn on Christmas music, Helena turns it off.

She gets offended easily and tries to 'punish' me by being as rude as possible... until she wants something, that is.  Then she is all love and smiles and I am the most wonderful Mom in the world.

I wish she could see that, even though it does hurt me some to be treated badly, she is hurting herself even more by damaging her character.  Manipulation is an ugly thing.

The thing is, I don't like who I become when I deal with her bad behavior.  I try to be patient and firm.  I try to have a thick skin.  I try to remember that everyone tells me what a wonderful girl she is.  I know that she is worst behaved for me because I am the safest one to let her guard down with.  I will love her no matter how she behaves, so she can treat me badly without worrying that I'll stop loving her.  That doesn't help much when I am being treated so badly that I wonder why I even bothered being a mother in the first place.  Then, when I snap - when I lose my perspective and stop being a mom and become just a person who is sick of being dumped on - I behave badly, too.  Then I feel horrible because I know I should have been better.  I am older, I am wiser - I am the Mom.  I am supposed to be the example.

I have not felt the Christmas spirit in our house at all.

This morning at school, we had the 'Christmas Sing'.  Each grade performed a Holiday song for the rest of the school, then everyone sang a few together.  Santa was there, too.  The children were SO EXCITED!  They were just about leaping out of their skins!  The joy and magic of Christmas reflecting through 1100 children was just overpowering!  Even the song 'Rudolph' had me reduced to tears!  At the end, as classes were leaving, we discovered that it had started SNOWING while we had been singing.  The cheers and excitement nearly raised the roof!

I realized; that is what I am missing.  The childhood magic of Christmas.  There are no more children at our house.  We have teenagers and adults.  There is no magic.  There is no anticipation.  There is no joy in it for me.

Like I said, I am tired and overwrought.  Sorry for venting.  It helps to get it out of my head.  I hope tomorrow will be a better day.

Where's Pepper now?

Pepper has taken to hanging out in very unlikely places. He still worms his way under the couch in the living room and nests in its innards, even though it is quite a squeeze for him. He (and Tigger) will climb into Bill's armoire and sleep on his thermals. The other day we found Pepper hanging out on one of the top shelves in the storage, as seen in this photo. Don't ask me how he managed to get up there!

This is his first year as an adult cat during Christmas. He (and all the animals, actually) will drink the Christmas Tree water if we don't watch him. He pulls exactly one ornament off the tree each early morning and leaves it for me to find on the rug at the kitchen sink. Don't ask me why. He is such a funny cat!

You know, every time I am fixing food for myself, he will come stretch himself to his limit, place a paw on the counter, and try to find out what I am making, and is it yummy food I'd share with him? Cheese and ice cream are his favorites.

Nativity Backdrop

RuthAnn, the Ward Activity Director, asked me to paint a stable backdrop for the annual Primary children's Nativity that is enacted each year at the Ward Christmas party. I was not thrilled about being asked to do it. I felt something like how the main character in Single's Ward feels when the Ward Activity Director calls him and asks him to do stand up comedy for the Ward talent night since that is what he does for a living. Yeah. Not thrilled!

Anyway, I obviously said I'd do it. I toyed with ideas for a while, and put it off until after Helena's party was over. I simply couldn't deal with both at the same time. And, of course, it had to be WAY below freezing this week when I needed to spend several hours in the garage in order to paint it! The Ward party is tomorrow, otherwise I would have been tempted to wait for milder weather. It was about 12 degrees out when I was painting this. My hands are chapped and sore now, but I think it was worth it. I am very pleased with the results.

Here is the finished product. The top picture has the additional lighting of my one poor pathetic garage light that still works (three of them are out of commission), while the bottom picture shows the backdrop with only the flood lights shining on it. The strong contrast between light and dark was intentional. I wanted to get a strong feeling of the love of God shining down from the Star of Bethlehem.

There you have it. I could have a future in prop painting if the teaching thing ever fell through.

Helena's Birthday Bash

Last Saturday 15 of Helena's closest friends came over to help her celebrate the fact that she is now 16. Including Helena, that was 16 teenagers in the house! (No, Will wasn't there) The number coinciding with her age was accidental, not deliberate; she invited 19 people, but four couldn't make it.

I spent the entire week preceding the party baking my brains out! We decided that making gingerbread houses would be a very season-appropriate party activity, so I baked enough gingerbread to make one basic house kit per invited guest! In the collage, you can see the table spread out before and after the kids built their houses. They had a BLAST! They were definitely crowded, though! The table really only seats 8. Every chair had two teenagers sharing a seat.

That many kids in such a small space really heated up the house! We had to open windows to cool it down inside, despite the frigid temperatures outside!

So, here is a run down of party activities:

Dining room - Gingerbread houses
Living room - Dance, Dance Revolution dance off on the XBox (we have two dance pads)
Kitchen - FOOD! Homemade chili (spicy and mild choices), hot dogs, and a hot cocoa bar with yummy mix ins.
Family room - group games, cookies and soda

As you can see, the party ranged over the entire house. Bill and Will beat a hasty retreat and spent most of the party time out at a shooting range and dinner.

Kirsten and Paul came over for part of the party. Paul helped me by cooking the dogs on the grill. He doesn't think it was any big deal, but it allowed me to monitor the front door (since not all party guests had arrived yet) and allowed Helena to keep entertaining those guests that had already arrived. Super cool!

The kids all loved our house, especially the kids' bathroom, for some reason. Helena said they (mostly the girls) gushed over it.

Dance, Dance was a HOOT! One of Helena's friends, Kristen, just LOVES that game. She was hyper into it, if you know what I mean. Blake had never played it before, but was game to try it, and that was the funniest of all! (Yes, I know funniest isn't really a word) Then baby Tori wanted to try it after watching the teenagers do it for a while. That gave Blake the chance to finally beat someone at the game, even if that someone was only 15 months old!

The party lasted for 5 hours and never felt like it was dragging. Everyone left at the appropriate moment, and my dining room table is still covered with gingerbread building supplies!

Now I am looking forward to Will's 16th bash in 2 1/2 years! His will be super awesome because it is in the end of May! OUTDOOR PARTY! WOOT! WOOT!

Misc. Holiday thoughts

We are decorated for the holidays! Most of the recognition for the work of decorating has to go to Helena. She is at the age where I can trust her to do a really fantastic job, and she thinks it is completely fun. Win, win!




I made enough gingerbread house parts for all of the teenagers who attended Helena's birthday bash. More on that in another post. Since a few kids were unable to make it, I had enough left over to allow us to each make our own houses today! This is my house. Bill calls the roofing material an afro. I think it looks very nice!




We had our first holiday snow storm today. I love the snow during the holidays, after that it just becomes a nuisance! Here is a shot of the outdoor lights, courtesy of Bill.

My new front door!

At least, the paint is new! It is VERY bright, isn't it? Sorry the photo is a bit blurred. I had a hard time getting a sharp focus tonight, for some reason. I'll take more shots later and post a better one, soon. I also had to tear apart my front door wreath, since it had been designed to match the old purple paint, and redecorate it to match the new paint color. It looks fabulous! Helena had the idea to hang a bird ornament from the center of the wreath. I'll post more of that soon, too!

 

Decorating the tree

Today was the day to decorate the tree! Helena and Bill put the lights on. I remember what a pain it was to wait while Dad futzed around with the lights for our Christmas tree when I was a child. We kids were all wound up and ready to GO! But, we had to sit around and wait for Dad while he fussed over the perfect placement of every single bulb! That doesn't happen around here. The lights are placed quickly, without a lot of fuss. There are not as many as Dad put on our childhood trees, but the tree decorating is much more pleasant!

Will disappeared for a little while, then re-emerged with this strand wrapped around himself. I guess he decided he needed to be decorated, too! I love his smile. It lights up just as much as the lights on the strand wrapped around him.

Here is the near finished tree. I still can't believe it is already the Holiday season and that 2009 is nearly over!

A shot from outside. We placed the tree in the window, Norman Rockwell style. Note the happy faces smiling out at you?

We Also Sing Concert at Temple Square

My friend, Lisa McDowell, is in a 360 member women's choir that performed at Temple Square in the Tabernacle tonight. We parked the car in Sandy and rode Trax (light rail) up to Temple Square to attend her concert. Before the concert, we went into the North Visitor Center and met a sister missionary from Pakistan! After visiting with her for a bit, we went to the Tabernacle to find our seats. It was great to sit in the Tabernacle again and feel the age of the building sink in. It is amazing to think what the pioneers accomplished!

The concert was really fabulous! I asked Lisa how she got into this choir because I would be interested in joining. She said there is no audition, it is simply a matter of registering before the slots are filled. It is a popular choir, so slots fill quickly. It is a Christmas choir that rehearses from August until performance time. It is based in Taylorsville (Salt Lake valley), but members come from Spanish Fork (southern Utah County) all the way up to Ogden! She says I should definitely do it with her next year because they can always use more altos. The photo above is of her choir and the Tabernacle organ. The photo below is, obviously, Lisa and me.

Of course, after the concert, we wandered around Temple Square enjoying the lights. Just outside of the square there was a man playing Christmas carols on a bagpipe. A street musician. Both of the kids love donating to a street musician's pot. I have no problem with that. I feel like they are doing something to earn the donation, unlike the people who just sit there with a piece of cardboard waiting for a handout. I guess that is pretty harsh. Maybe they don't have the talent or instrument to be able to perform. But I simply will not hand money over to someone who will probably drink it away before the night is through.

While there aren't photos of it here, we went to the Gallivan Center on Trax and watched the ice skating there, then had dinner at Carl's Jr. We got to see some really trashy kids and watch a policeman wake and escort a homeless (and probably stoned) man out of the restaurant. Yeah. Fun times in the big city! Afterwards, we hopped back on Trax and headed back to our car. For most of the ride the train was so full that we had to stand and hold the straps. It was only as we neared our destination that we were able to sit. The photo below has Helena, Will, and Bill in it. Will picked up that nail biting habit from his dad.

All in all, it was a fun time with the family!

Thanksgiving Day

We went to Kirsten and Paul's house for Thanksgiving this year. It was really a good time! She cooked a bunch of wonderful food! That was my overloaded plate in the photo above. The real hit in the food department, though, is pictured below... the pumpkin souffle! Oh, wow! Kirsten got applause from everyone when it came out of the oven successfully. It was SO YUMMY!!! I definitely am going to get the recipe from her for next year! She really out did herself and I really appreciated all the effort that went into the meal.

We also watched Mamma Mia! that night. I had never seen it before. It is so cheesy! But, at the same time, I couldn't stop smiling. There was so much personality bursting out of each character that it was infectious!